Blog Overview

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Business and Human Rights

"Google's Gatekeepers" raises concerns and questions
There's a lot to say about Jeffrey Rosen's piece on "Google's Gatekeepers" in the Times Magazine on Sunday. Rosen shines much-needed light on the internal process for making decisions about removing content and responding to user and government requests for censorship at Google. Many have commented on the risks of entrusting so few people at a relatively small number of companies with so much ... Read More

Lifeline for iraqi refugees

The UN and Iraqi Refugees - Is It Really News?
The UN refugee agency just released a new analysis of the political and security situation in Iraq, and revised its guidelines as to how countries should handle asylum claims from Iraqis fleeing their Iraq. The guidelines essentially form a 250-page encyclopedia of Iraq’s various forms of ongoing violence and conflict. Somebody should put a copy on Ambassador Chris Hill’s desk when he gets back ... Read More

Military Commission Trial Observation at Guantanamo

President-elect Obama: It Doesn’t Gitmo Urgent Than This
Gabor Rona – Human Rights First’s International Legal Director – will be in Cuba to monitor the proceedings and report back on events as they unfold.January 16, 2009: Next week, for the umpteenth time, a representative of Human Rights First (me) will embark on a trip that should not occur, to a destination that should not exist, to witness events that should not happen. But this time is different... Read More

Prosecuting Terrorism

Save the Date: HRF Panel Discussion on the First 100 Days - U.S. Leadership on Human Rights & National Security
Reestablishing U.S. Leadership on Human Rights & National Security: Accomplishments of the First 100 Days and Next Steps for the Obama AdministrationPresented by Human Rights FirstTuesday, April 21, 2009, 8:30 AM – 1:00 PMThe Freedom Forum at the Newseum555 Pennsylvania Ave., 8th Floor, N.W., Washington, DC(Please use 6th street entrance) 8:30 AM: Breakfast. The Honorable Chuck Hagel, U.S. ... Read More

Refugee Protection Program


Too little, too late – the Department of Homeland Security’s Response to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s Report on Jailing Asylum SeekersIn a January 8, 2009 letter to DHS Assistant Secretary for Policy Stewart Baker, the Chair of the bi-partisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Felice Gaer, told DHS that the actions DHS has taken, in response to the ... Read More

Rights Wire

Today We Have More Hope
Like you, I have been looking forward to this election for a long time. It offered the chance for our country to turn a new face to the world – to return to our fundamental values and restore U.S. credibility and global leadership on human rights. The promises of change on the campaign trail are now challenges President-elect Obama will face, head-on, come January. He and his administration ... Read More

Stop Arms to Sudan

A Crisis Looms Large in Darfur
Yesterday the United Nations and the Government of Sudan released a joint assessment that begins to calculate the enormous humanitarian implications that expelling thirteen aid groups from Sudan will have on civilians in Sudan, particularly in the Darfur region. The estimates are grim: more than a million people will go without food rations by May and water could run out in some camps for ... Read More

We Can End Torture Now

Former Vice President Cheney -- Wrong Again
Check out the Director of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, Allen Keller, writing at Huffington Post about just how wrong the former Vice President's facts were in his torture-defending speech last Thursday. Key point:Torture is neither reliable in eliciting accurate information nor in promoting national security. It is a violation of domestic and international law. Our use of ... Read More